The joint European Union / Council of Europe project, Action against Economic Crime in Albania, together with the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) organized a series of focus groups with responsible Albanian institutions and private sector entities on the National Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (ML/TF) Risk Assessment Report (NRA) . This draft report was prepared by the FIA based on the Council of Europe methodology, with the contribution of law enforcement agencies, supervisors of financial and non-financial institutions, as well as the private financial and non-financial sector. 

The goal of the focus groups was to gauge opinions, concerns and issues worthy to address from the perspective of the responsible institutions and entities about the preliminary findings generated from the first draft of the National Risk Assessment Report in order to ensure that the final NRA report is comprehensive, and its results are both realistic, accurate and supported by all relevant stakeholders. The findings and conclusions gathered will serve for the review of the Report and provision of additional guidance from the Council of Europe expert for addressing any remaining gaps.

The Action will continue supporting Albanian authorities for the finalization of the National Risk Assessment Report which will serve as the basis for the 3-year Action Plan on the fight against Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism in Albania.

The Action against Economic Crime in Albania is part of the Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye III, a joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe, which aims at assisting Beneficiaries in the Western Balkans region and Türkiye to comply with the Council of Europe standards and the European Union acquis in the framework of the enlargement process, when relevant.